Part 16 (1/2)

The drift had covered his den to a great depth while he slept, and the wind had packed the snow so hard that the air could no longer circulate through it

It was necessary that an opening be made quickly or he would sht He removed some of the sticks hich he had closed the doorway, and using one of thean to filter through, and he kneas day, and presently he broke the outer crust of the drift

A flood of pure but bitterly cold air poured in upon hi his opening straight out froed for a door, and he now e of his body as he crawled upon hands and knees

The storree abated The velocity of the as so terrific that had Bobby not stood in the shelter of the drift-covered bowlder he could not have kept upon his feet The air was so filled with driving snow as to be suffocating A tre and breaking upon the rocks with terrific roar, though no glih the snow clouds that enveloped hi to be done but to return to his burrow and make himself as comfortable as circumstances would permit His first care was to clear away the snohich he had thrown back under the boat as he dug his way out, and which partially filled his cave And when this was done he selected a sharp stick and with it made three or four air holes in the roof of the drift above his door, to furnish ventilation, for it was not long before the entrance of the passageas again closed

Bobby was very hungry, as every healthy boy the world over is sure to be when he rises in the , and when he had completed the ventilation of his cave to his satisfaction he proceeded to rill one of his birds, never doubting the s holes that he had rin the smoke did not rise and was presently so thick as to blind and choke him, and he found it necessary to put the fire out

And so it ca his sea pigeon uncooked, which after all was no great hardshi+p

All that day and all the next day the storm continued and Bobby was held prisoner in his cave, and he was thankful enough that he had the cave to shelter hi of the third day of his captivity, and forced his way out of doors, he was met by sunshi+ne and his heart bounded with joy It was only behind bowlders and the clumps of bushes scattered here and there, and in sheltered corners where drifts had formed, that snow remained upon the island Elsewhere the wind had swept the rocks clean

The gale that had racked the world had passed, but a brisk breeze was blowing down from the north, sharp inter cold The sea, too, had subsided, though even yet big rollers were driving and pounding upon the rocky shore

”Now,” said Bobby, ”with the first calht, when the water quiets down, the bay will freeze, and then I can walk in on the ice But they'll have to hurry in froht out there and won't be able to bring the boat in this winter I can stand it a little while, and I hope the freeze-up won't coet back home”

But Bobby lost no tihest immediate importance was the satisfaction of his appetite, which as usual was protesting against delay

He had been eating raw sea pigeon quite long enough, and he proposed now to enjoy the great treat of a grilled bird And so without troubling hiht not have done, he proceeded to fetch wood froood one it was to be, too, in the lee of his bowlder And when the as crackling hs upon which to sit while he cooked and ate the one sea pigeon which he allowed hieon that seeree of self-denial and self-restraint to observe the rule of econo he recked He had decided then that two sea pigeons a day, one in the , were all he could afford For who could tell how long it ht be before he would ame to be had on the island at this season, and when those he had were gone there would be hungry days to face Though he declared to hi the last bone of his breakfast that he could never possibly be any hungrier than at that very e fire in future He calculated that he had already collected enough wood to last him, with small and carefully constructed fires, one day, and a survey of the island and its possibilities revealed the fact that all the additional fuel he could garner froid econo the period of the blizzard he had satisfied his thirst with bits of ice Now his fire was built close to a little hollow in the rock, and, placing snow near the fire, itinto the hollow settled there, and gave hi the best of his resources, Bobby prepared for his siege, which he felt quite sure would end only when the bay froze and he could ht hours were spent in collecting bits of wood This kept hi, and kept his blood war The freeze-up was close at hand With each hour thewhen he entered his cave he closed the entrance with snow, that it ht be kept warht, and he was glad enough to crawl out in the ht his fire

That was a cheerless day The sun shone through a gray veil, and offered little warather, and to save his little stock he ran up and down upon the rocks that he ht drive away the cold with exercise

The sun was lohen he lighted his evening fire, and as he prepared his sea pigeon for supper he re

”And I've been hungry ever since I've been here,” he remarked to hi a great deal nohat he should have to eat when he reached hoood hot tea!

And so, thinking, and dreading to go to his cheerless cave, he sat while his fire burned low and the sun sank froathered

”I'll spare another stick or two,” he said, replenishi+ng the fire ”I can't go into that hole yet”

The fire blazed up, and the twilight grew thicker, and the fire had nearly burned out again while Bobby, drea where Abel Zachariah and Skipper Ed and Ji unlooked for startled him into sudden wakefulness

CHAPTER XVIII

THE WINTER OF FAMINE

Faintly over the waters, but quite loud enough for Bobby to hear, ca with all the power of his lusty young lungs Then he ran to his cave and got his gun, and fired three shots at intervals of a few seconds, and with the last shot listened tense with eagerness and excitereed upon It meant, ”Come! I want you,” and when at home if Jimmy wished Bobby to come over to Skipper Ed's cabin, or Bobby wished Jimmy to come to Abel Zachariah's cabin, it was the way they called one another And when the signal was heard, two shots were fired in quick succession to say, ”I hear, and I will come,” or two shots with an interval between, to say, ”I hear you, but I can't come” Then it was the duty of the one who had fired the three shots in the beginning, whether or not his invitation had been accepted, to fire a single shot to say: ”I hear you and understand”